Prince William and Princess Kate are reportedly planning a very different Christmas after their difficult year

The Wales family has endured a difficult 2024, with Princess Kate confirming her cancer diagnosis earlier this year.

The 42-year-old mother of three took a temporary step back from duties to focus on her recovery. And now having completed her chemotherapy treatment, she has started her gradual return to work.

However, according to royal experts, the Princess of Wales' priorities have changed, with an even stronger emphasis on family life.

"Before, she used to live her life by the calendar," explained Robert Jobson, author of Catherine, the Princess of Wales: A Biography of the Future Queen. "And now she is living her life, and the calendar comes in after."

According to experts, this will be true over the Christmas festivities, with the Wales family expected to celebrate the holidays in a more informal way.

The Prince and Princess will reportedly be spending Christmas on the Sandringham Estate as usual, but according to sources, they will be spending a lot of their time at their Anmer Hall home, rather than at Sandringham House with the rest of the Mountbatten-Windsors.

And after their difficult year, it's no surprise that they are expected to have some very welcome visitors of their own to stay over the holidays - Princess Kate's parents, Carole and Michael Middleton.

"A little social media of the family eating chocolate and watching TV would be a very effective way of showing how normal Christmas is at Anmer Hall compared to what we hear about at Sandringham," an insider has claimed to GB News, via the Daily Beast. “[William is] enthusiastic about embracing Kate‘s much more normal conception of Christmas."

The source continued: "It’s always been a slightly covert, rival Christmas party at their house, but it’s going to be much more obvious this year."

We will continue to update this story.